Benchmarking South Africa’s Foreign Direct Investment Policy

This policy insights paper examines South Africa’s proposed law on the promotion and protection of investment, and highlights the differences between this law and SADC’s regional approach as adopted by South Africa.
SADC Investment Perspectives in a Changing International Investment Landscape

The global arena for foreign direct investment (FDI) has become much more fluid and complex in the five years from 2010 to 2015. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) as a region has shown exceptional growth but relatively lacklustre FDI inflows.
The case for better FDI data in South Africa

Detailed and carefully collected foreign direct investment (FDI) statistics are essential for the effective design and evaluation of public policy on inward foreign investment.
Confronting the ‘Oil Curse’: State–Civil Society Roles in Managing Ghana’s Oil Find

Ghana discovered large oil deposits at Cape Three Points, on its western coast, in 2007.
The G-20 Tax Agenda and Africa’s Taxation Needs

The rapid growth of the global economy in recent years has meant that international tax laws have not kept pace with changes in the global business environment, with the consequence that multinational corporations (MNCs) are not necessarily taxed appropriately.
South Africa Turns 21, but does it really hold the ‘key to freedom’?

In South Africa, it is commonplace to receive a ‘Key to Freedom’ on your 21st birthday. To the recipient, it signifies entry into adulthood and with it the autonomy and ‘freedom’ to forge an independent path. For the parents who bestow this key, it is a conferring of trust in their child to accept the mantle of adulthood with maturity.
Lessons for South Africa: How Zambia prevented xenophobia

‘Isaac, we can no longer go to the movie today. We have a curfew,’ my late dad told me. ‘I understand, dad,’ I responded – and I genuinely did. This was a conversation taking place on a Saturday at home in Ibex Hill, in my hometown of Lusaka in 1978.
AGOA Extension Bill Overcomes Poultry Dispute to Reach Congress

The bill to extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the United States’ cornerstone African development initiative, has finally arrived in Congress in the form of the AGOA Extension and Enhancement Act of 2015.
‘New Normal’ Needed to Tackle Africa’s Extractive Governance Challenges

In tandem with the steep fall in global commodity prices, demands for a stronger sustainability focus in Africa’s extractives industry is on the rise. This shift is leading communities, industry, government and civil society actors to reassess emerging governance challenges in a low commodity price environment.
Battling Violence against Women: From Africa’s Top to Toe

Combating gender-based violence was a key theme raised by African countries at the March 2015 session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland. It is clear that this is a serious problem across the continent, as speeches from leaders from South Africa to Egypt demonstrated.